Chennai Super Kings’ skipper MS Dhoni powered his team to a final over victory. CSK beat hosts Mumbai Indians by four wickets at the Wankhede, Mumbai on Saturday night.
Dhoni scored a quickfire 22 from 12 balls while Dwayne Smith essayed a fine innings of 57 from 51 balls, hitting five fours and three sixes.
Earlier, Ambati Rayudu notched up his first half century of the season as defending champions Mumbai Indians battled their way to 157 for 6.
One-down batsman Rayudu, whose previous highest score this season was 48, made 59 with four sixes and two fours in 43 balls before he was out in the 19th over.
Rayudu's stand of 61 in 54 balls with opener Lendl Simmons (38), playing his first game after being inducted into the squad in place of injured Jalaj Saxena and replacing Ben Dunk in the eleven, laid the platform after the early loss of opener Chidambaram Gautam for 9 in the third over.
Towards the end, left hander Corey Anderson (18 not out in six balls with two sixes) and Aditya Tare (9 with two fours) put on 28 runs in 12 balls to give the total some respectability after Mumbai were asked to bat first.
Mumbai made a decent start despite losing opener Gautam cheaply. The home team scored on 42 for 1 in the powerplay period of six overs. Simmons carted fellow West Indian Samuel Badree for two sixes over in the sixth over.
But, Mumbai scoring rate slumped later as they could add only 12 runs in the next three overs. The hosts accounted for 33 dot balls in the first nine overs at the end of which the score read 54 for 1. It became 57 for 1 after 10 overs.
The 18th over bowled by Ashwin, his last, was dramatic as it produced two wickets -- of Mumbai skipper Rohit and Kieron Pollard -- in four balls besides a six over long on by Rayudu.
Rohit and Pollard were both caught in deep mid wicket by Suresh Raina to help Ashwin finish with 3/30. Rayudu fell the next over off Mohit and Mumbai were struggling at 129 for 5.
Smith then upped the tempo by striking a four and a huge six over the straight field off his West Indian compatriot Pollard to help Chennai reach 75 for 2 after 10 overs.
The partnership of 63 in 46 balls between Smith and du Plessis was ended when Smith tried to repeat his six over mid wicket off Praveen Kumar and was caught in the deep. The dismissal of du Plessis, yorked by Lasith Malinga, 10 runs later at 129 raised Mumbai's hopes.
The hosts were a bit unlucky when Ravindra Jadeja escaped after a strong and confident shout for leg before off the first ball he faced from Malinga. But, he played onto the stumps against the same bowler later.
Mithun Manhas was run out going for a second run off the first ball he faced and Chennai were left to score 11 in the last over for a win and Dhoni achieved it by carting Pollard over the mid wicket region for a six and then cover-driving the West Indian to the fence for the winning runs.
Earlier, Ambati Rayudu notched up his first half century of the season as defending champions Mumbai battled their way to 157 for 6.
One-down batsman Rayudu, whose previous highest score this season was 48, made 59 with four sixes and two fours in 43 balls before he was out in the 19th over.
Rayudu's stand of 61 in 54 balls with opener Lendl Simmons (38), playing his first game after being inducted into the squad in place of injured Jalaj Saxena and replacing Ben Dunk in the eleven, laid the platform after the early loss of opener Chidambaram Gautam for 9 in the third over.
Towards the end, left hander Corey Anderson (18 not out in six balls with two sixes) and Aditya Tare (9 with two fours) put on 28 runs in 12 balls to give the total some respectability after Mumbai were asked to bat first.
Mumbai made a decent start despite losing opener Gautam cheaply. The home team scored on 42 for 1 in the powerplay period of six overs. Simmons carted fellow West Indian Samuel Badree for two sixes over in the sixth over.
But, Mumbai scoring rate slumped later as they could add only 12 runs in the next three overs. The hosts accounted for 33 dot balls in the first nine overs at the end of which the score read 54 for 1. It became 57 for 1 after 10 overs.
Rayudu escaped being caught when Mithun Manhas made a mess of a chance at deep extra cover off Ravindra Jadeja and then celebrated it by slog-sweeping the left-arm spinner for a six over midwicket.
Simmons departed when he tried to give charge to R Ashwin and was caught at long on for a run-a-ball 38 that included two sixes and three fours. The stand between him and Rayudu was worth 61 off 54 balls.
The next five overs produced 42 runs leaving Mumbai at 99 for 2 after 15 overs. Though Rayudu carted Jadeja for another six over long on, things had been kept tight by CSK bowlers.
The 18th over bowled by Ashwin, his last, was dramatic as it produced two wickets -- of Mumbai skipper Rohit and Kieron Pollard -- in four balls besides a six over long on by Rayudu.
Rohit and Pollard were both caught in deep mid wicket by Suresh Raina to help Ashwin finish with 3/30. Rayudu fell the next over off Mohit and Mumbai were struggling at 129 for 5.
A couple of boundary hits by Tare against Mohit Sharma in the penultimate over and two sixes struck by Anderson off Ishwar Pandey in final over helped Mumbai finish with a 150-plus score.
Image: Dwayne Smith
Photograph: BCCI
